FindArtNola

<a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfeArh5NY-I/AAAAAAAAAKI/Cto4kK1U6z4/s1600-h/Louis-2chico.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329870169337324514” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 224px” alt=”“ src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfeArh5NY-I/AAAAAAAAAKI/Cto4kK1U6z4/s320/Louis-2chico.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><br /><div>On Thursday, April 23, 2009, the Ogden Museum opened the exhibition <em>Timex All-Star Jazz Show 1958: Photographs by Jerry <span>Dantzic</span>. </em>Jerry <span>Dantzic</span> was one of three photographers hired to document the rehearsal of this rare collaboration between New Orleans native, Louis Armstrong, and Kentucky native, Lionel Hampton. Using a few <span>Leica</span> M3s, <span>Dantzic</span> captured both the energy of musical <span>performance</span> and the intimate moments between these legendary artists. </div><br /><div></div><a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfeArxAAUSI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/H-YIjwNmHhs/s1600-h/Dantzics.JPG”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5329870173392359714” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px” alt=”“ src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfeArxAAUSI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/H-YIjwNmHhs/s320/Dantzics.JPG” border=“0” /></a><br /><br /><div>More widely known for his pioneering color panoramic work that led to two <span>Guggenheim</span> Fellowships and a 1978 solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, this work positions <span>Dantzic</span> in the context of the great jazz photographers of the 50s. In 1999, Jerry’s son, <span>Grayson</span>, became archivist for the Jerry <span>Dantzic</span> Archives. <span>Grayson</span> found the negatives and contact sheets for this shoot hidden away in his father’s studio. Some of these images have never before been printed . Besides Pops and <span>Hamp</span>, there are great images of Gerry Mulligan, Gene <span>Krupa</span>, George Shearing, Jaye P. Morgan, and the Dukes of Dixieland, to name a few. <span>Grayson</span>, also the archivist at Atlantic Records, worked with Ogden Museum curator David Houston to organize this exhibition, up through July 19, 2009.</div><div></div><div>For more on Jerry <span>Dantzic</span> and the exhibition: <a href=“http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&amp;int_new=30510”>http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&amp;int_new=30510</a>. Top photo<em> Louis Armstrong, Timex Jazz Show #2, Rehearsal, 4/30/1958</em> by Jerry <span>Dantzic</span>, Copyright © 2009 JERRY <span>DANTZIC</span> ARCHIVES, All Rights Reserved. Bottom: <span>Grayson</span> <span>Dantzic</span> and his mother, artist Cynthia <span>Dantzic</span>. Photo by Cheryl Gerber.</div><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3601211757000210971-4776795013799975393?l=omsablog.blogspot.com” /></div>

<a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfjOFOxaBxI/AAAAAAAAALA/bRS5Q_6sLp4/s1600-h/Rush2.Gerber09.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330236748252972818” style=“WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px” alt=”“ src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfjOFOxaBxI/AAAAAAAAALA/bRS5Q_6sLp4/s320/Rush2.Gerber09.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br />Photo by Cheryl Gerber<br /><br />The legendary Soul Blues singer, Bobby Rush, played Ogden After Hours on Thursday, April 23. Born the son of a preacher man in Homer, Louisiana,1940, Bobby Rush moved to Chicago at an early age. In the 50s, he played in Chicago bands with Freddie King, Earl Hooker, and Luther Allison. Trips to visit family in Arkansas found him on stage with the great <span>Elemore</span> James.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfjO4DWogVI/AAAAAAAAALI/ecS6J9bF1W0/s1600-h/chickenheads.jpeg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330237621361213778” style=“WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px” alt=”“ src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfjO4DWogVI/AAAAAAAAALI/ecS6J9bF1W0/s320/chickenheads.jpeg” border=“0” /></a><br /><br /><br />In 1971, Rush had a hit with the Galaxy single “Chicken Heads,” and he spent the next decade travelling the “<span>chitlin</span>’ circuit” from west Texas to Florida to Chicago, and back. In the 80s, he settled down in Jackson, Mississippi, signed to a number of labels, settling into <span>Malaco</span> Records.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfjNMg_WYYI/AAAAAAAAAK4/DcvxbPTm1rU/s1600-h/Rush.GerberCrowd09.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5330235773890748802” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px” alt=”“ src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/SfjNMg_WYYI/AAAAAAAAAK4/DcvxbPTm1rU/s320/Rush.GerberCrowd09.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br />Photo by Cheryl Gerber<br /><br />In 2003, Bobby Rush fulfilled his dream of owning his own label, Deep Rush. After more than fifty years on the stage, he shows no signs of slowing down. He has found new enthusiastic audiences in New York, Europe and Asia, and still plays to working class audiences in packed <span>juke</span> joints on the <span>chitlin</span>’ circuit. Thanks to the <span>Ponderosa</span> Stomp Foundation for bringing Bobby Rush to the Ogden Museum.<div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3601211757000210971-1992728799808059223?l=omsablog.blogspot.com” alt=”“ /></div>

<div> <a name=“5102936980852470083”></a> <div> <a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SfKmsXL0cfI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/5Xnao6sQBOw/s1600-h/MorganaKing.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 282px; height: 320px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SfKmsXL0cfI/AAAAAAAAAbQ/5Xnao6sQBOw/s320/MorganaKing.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328504590200762866” border=“0” /></a>In its brief history, The Front has become known as a showcase of consistently quirky and provocatively paradoxical artworks, and the current expo is no exception. Morgana King’s SUCK IT wall installation is emblematic, a large and delirious visual meditation on pervasive oral fixations. Inspired by summertime barflies sucking on cold libations as well as spring weddings and maternity wards, its pastel conical and nipple-like forms comprise a rhapsodic bas-relief of polymorphous associations infused with “the seasonal urgency” of blooming buds. Regarding which, King says, “Sit back and relax; I entreat you to either lay upon a cloud of titties or suck it.”<br /><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SfKnA_CIi6I/AAAAAAAAAbY/3A7-s5u2Z_U/s1600-h/~Lang.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 200px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SfKnA_CIi6I/AAAAAAAAAbY/3A7-s5u2Z_U/s200/~Lang.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328504944494939042” border=“0” /></a>Holger Lang’s TOAST &amp; CHAMPAGNE is a visual rumination on the spiritual dimensions of inner space—psychic as well as physical—in the form of colorful collages and videos based on figures from myth, history and fantasy, all surrounding a spooky sort of altar where a pair of disembodied manikin hands hang amid a loopy web of string. The overall installation suggests a cerebral spider web where artifacts of cultural history are accumulated instead of dead flies, and it’s about as precisely, and unsettlingly, executed.<a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SfKoOEA1zLI/AAAAAAAAAbg/t66KjmF95F4/s1600-h/~Pieri.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 200px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SfKoOEA1zLI/AAAAAAAAAbg/t66KjmF95F4/s200/~Pieri.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328506268681620658” border=“0” /></a><br />Julie Pieri’s DELICIOUS series of collages cobbled from the Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library—plastic-sealed recipes on cards in file boxes—is almost reassuring, but there’s something unsettling about all those luridly colored food photos sliced, diced and remixed into images like demonic rhinestone-studded carrots hovering over orgiastic spreads of Betty Crocker specialties—macaroni, meatloaf, deviled eggs— an infernal display of Middle American culinary diabolism.<br /><a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SfKqkqZfjGI/AAAAAAAAAbo/rUj9BRejvfk/s1600-h/zuspan.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 320px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SfKqkqZfjGI/AAAAAAAAAbo/rUj9BRejvfk/s320/zuspan.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328508855965944930” border=“0” /></a>Strange as it sounds, Laura Zuspan’s EXOASTROALIENOLOGY series of ink paintings inspired by space aliens is oddly familiar, which may be her point. Like mythic beings who came to visit and made themselves at home, space aliens now coexist with the other familiar icons of our pop culture—just as these four shows, each equally inviting and off-putting, meld their own unique flavors into the yeasty St. Claude avenue mix. ~D. Eric Bookhardt<br /><br />New Work by Morgana King, Holger Lang, Julie Pierie and Laura Zuspan<br />Through May 2<br />The Front, 4100 St. Claude Avenue<br /><span><span>Expanded from <a href=“http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/index”>Gambit</a><br /></span></span>Email: </div></div><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-2931611511909984238?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

<a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SfO_lxuuJbI/AAAAAAAAAH0/W0hger6hTJ0/s1600-h/~Strickland.s..jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 319px;” src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SfO_lxuuJbI/AAAAAAAAAH0/W0hger6hTJ0/s320/~Strickland.s..jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328813439834793394” border=“0” /></a>One of the great contributions of cultural modernism has been its recognition of anonymous public spaces as places of poetry in their own right. That much is evident in two shows on view at local galleries. Alabama-based painter Stephen Stickland depicts vistas with figures on streets and beaches that exude a detached, cinematic quality. With titles like HUMIDITY, OPEN SPACE and INTERSECTION, below, they are painted deftly yet atmospherically, in much the way that Walker Percy implied, as well as described, human interactions. In THROUGH THE CROWD, top, his figures, seen from elevated angles, appear on streets reduced to people, pavement and pigeons as well as the space between them— the air itself—which suggests its own palpable presence.<a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SfPBWFduBQI/AAAAAAAAAIM/3wMcRSqbFAs/s1600-h/~Strickland2.s.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 234px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SfPBWFduBQI/AAAAAAAAAIM/3wMcRSqbFAs/s400/~Strickland2.s.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328815369277539586” border=“0” /></a>The beach scenes are somewhat more personal. HUMIDITY is a two-panel sequence in which regular folks frolic in the tepid surf on a beach not unlike Gulf Shores. Here the flesh is fleshier and the salty air is denser, a clear, gel-like substance that unites them for the moment in a state of blandly placid contentment. Walker Percy would be pleased.<a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SfO-CMF-BcI/AAAAAAAAAHk/LDuqL34xlcQ/s1600-h/~Meehan1.s.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 244px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SfO-CMF-BcI/AAAAAAAAAHk/LDuqL34xlcQ/s400/~Meehan1.s.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328811728924706242” border=“0” /></a>Nola-based Alisoun Meehan’s large pastel paintings of New York’s Chinatown are more turbulent as the area’s hubbub is reflected in shop windows filled with the carcasses of slaughtered animals amid flashing neon. In CHEF GRAFFITI, a window filled with rows of hanging poultry reflects the pulsating chaos of shoppers and traffic as well as the brick tenements across the street. Such scenes are ordinarily the domain of photorealism, but Meehan’s pastels are more stylized.<br /><a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SfO-N_9BYQI/AAAAAAAAAHs/L8g1HkxTS34/s1600-h/~Meehan2.s.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 209px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SfO-N_9BYQI/AAAAAAAAAHs/L8g1HkxTS34/s400/~Meehan2.s.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5328811931824382210” border=“0” /></a>Painting like CHINESE PIGS ON MOTT ST., in which slaughtered pigs are piled on a palette, or CAMBODIAN CHICKENS, in which the plucked carcasses of long-necked birds await their culinary fate, suggest raw, wide-screen equivalents of Dutch baroque still life paintings, a genre that graphically contemplates the darkly symbiotic relationship between mortality and well being. ~D. Eric Bookhardt<br /><br /><span>Stephen Strickland: THROUGH THE CROWD<br />Through May 3<br />Cole Pratt Gallery, 3800 Magazine St. 891-6789<br />Alisoun Meehan: THE CHINATOWN SERIES<br />Through April 23<br />Good Children Gallery, 4037 St. Claude Ave., 975-1557<br /></span><span><span>Expanded from <a href=“http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/index”>Gambit</a> </span></span><br /><span>Email:</span><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-7954253624607874536?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

<div> <a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SeqBEoq1tiI/AAAAAAAAAZo/spNMKBleN2I/s1600-h/~Nicosia.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 291px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/SeqBEoq1tiI/AAAAAAAAAZo/spNMKBleN2I/s400/~Nicosia.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326211425955591714” border=“0” /></a><span>Untitled (Sam, 1986) </span>by Nic Nicosia is part of the gallery of super-size contemporary photographs that line the walls of the Great Hall of the New Orleans Museum of Art these days, in perfect counterpoint to the ornate 19th century paintings by artists such as Bouguereau or Delacroix in the adjacent galleries. </div><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-2664840381147838498?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

<div> <a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sd6MmmkxdqI/AAAAAAAAAWw/hEZUD7XHRDQ/s1600-h/Couple2.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 228px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sd6MmmkxdqI/AAAAAAAAAWw/hEZUD7XHRDQ/s320/Couple2.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322846404416206498” border=“0” /></a>As an art world influence, the renaissance approach to painting is with us still. Fusing renaissance techniques with idiosyncratic vision is an ongoing pursuit, but few are more idiosyncratic than Michael Northuis, who melds the cool virtuosity of Van Eyck and the expressionism of Otto Dix with sci-fi movie extravagance. COUPLE WITH ONLOOKERS suggests an expressionist space opera—the man’s wears a bejeweled Conehead hat and the woman a Star Trek coif. They are really very close-in fact, they share the same torso, which subverts their otherwise pleasant proportions.<br /><br /><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sd6VP6H4noI/AAAAAAAAAXg/eT2ZIKqAJEo/s1600-h/calypso.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 159px; height: 200px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sd6VP6H4noI/AAAAAAAAAXg/eT2ZIKqAJEo/s200/calypso.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322855910131408514” border=“0” /></a>In CALYPSO, another couple gazes at a distant shore like a pair of space age vikings adrift in the Caribbean. In MARIACHI WEDDING, a space alien gaucho with a banjo serenades a busty Valkyrie from Venus handcuffed to a Nordic cowboy from Mars in what appears to be a laser-shotgun sort of wedding. If this suggests a stylistic smorgasbord, it’s actually 100 percent pure Northuis, and while we never quite know exactly what he’s doing, few can deny that he does it very well.<br /><br /><a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sd6XfHug5wI/AAAAAAAAAXw/TOBDKORoyl4/s1600-h/MCox+Sugar+Rush.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 197px;” src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sd6XfHug5wI/AAAAAAAAAXw/TOBDKORoyl4/s200/MCox+Sugar+Rush.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322858370504386306” border=“0” /></a>If Nortuis infuses the weird with the ordinary, Matthew Cox infuses the ordinary with the weird in paintings of people eating in a variety of, mostly prosaic, situations. Painted in a loose, figurative style reminiscent of Hogarth’s oil sketches, Cox alludes to the vapid comedies of manners that result from various human cravings, the psychic as well as physical forms of emptiness. In this he hints at John Currin’s uber-renaissance depictions of fleshly domestic banalities.<br /><a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sd6Y5qkYeQI/AAAAAAAAAYA/v0y-t2vgAWs/s1600-h/MCox+xray+Lashes+w.Earrings.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 302px;” src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sd6Y5qkYeQI/AAAAAAAAAYA/v0y-t2vgAWs/s320/MCox+xray+Lashes+w.Earrings.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322859926045358338” border=“0” /></a>But Cox takes emptiness to another level entirely in his series of partially embroidered xrays of human heads and bodies, fleshing them out with strands of yarn that read like thick brushstrokes. Da Vinci it ain’t, but the renaissance master of anatomy would no doubt appreciate the novelty. ~D. Eric Bookhardt<br /><span>Expanded from <a href=“http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/index”>Gambit</a><br /><br /></span><span><br />BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!-Paintings by Michael Northuis<br />Through April 28<br />Heriard-Cimino Gallery, 440 Julia St., 525-7300<br />A MOMENT ON THE LIPS-Paintings by Matthew Cox<br />Through April 21<br />Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, 400a Julia St., 522-5471<br /></span><span><span>Expanded from <a href=“http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/index”>Gambit</a> </span></span><br /><span>Email:</span><br /></div><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-1228392604047032851?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

<a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd51pY8eARI/AAAAAAAAAJw/RIu3v0Ytw58/s1600-h/DSC00107.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322821163529666834” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px” alt=”“ src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd51pY8eARI/AAAAAAAAAJw/RIu3v0Ytw58/s320/DSC00107.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><div><div><div><br /><div>New Orleans lost one of her favorite sons this week. Jeffrey Cook, artist/dancer/educator, was found dead in his home on April 7. He was 48. </div><br /><div>Born and raised in Central City, Jeffrey studied at Xavier University and San Francisco Art Institute before becoming a professional dancer. At Xavier, legendary New Orleans sculptor John Scott served as both professor and mentor to Jeffrey, teaching him that the best ideas and subject matter come from the city streets. After receiving an MFA from SFAI, encouraged by his friend Shaun Early, he auditioned for and earned the position of Principle Dancer with the Los Angeles Repertory Company, a position that allowed him to perform in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece, Italy, Hong Kong and Scandinavia, as well as several major stateside cities. His dance career also included a stint as a Solid Gold dancer, and a brief role in the 1984 film <em>Breakin’.</em></div><br /><a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd51pPsS6SI/AAAAAAAAAJo/40QDLxaMs1c/s1600-h/dancers+in+atrium.+DSC_0108.JPG”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322821161045911842” style=“WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px” alt=”“ src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd51pPsS6SI/AAAAAAAAAJo/40QDLxaMs1c/s320/dancers+in+atrium.+DSC_0108.JPG” border=“0” /></a><br /><br /><div>Upon his return to New Orleans, he established a studio in a renovation located in the neighborhood of his youth, Central City. It was here that he created a series of painted and collaged work that leapt off the wall and referenced the patinas and architecture of his environment. Works such as <em>Making of a Melody</em> incorporate found objects, signs, and handmade dolls to comment on the social and physical neglect of a community, combined with a nostalgia for the neighborhood’s former glory and hope for the future. </div><br /><a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd51pbQwzaI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/0jjjob2qVd8/s1600-h/2002101.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322821164151655842” style=“WIDTH: 210px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px” alt=”“ src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd51pbQwzaI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/0jjjob2qVd8/s320/2002101.jpg” border=“0” /></a><br /><br /><div>In 2002, the Ogden Museum began a new educational program, <em>Artists and Sense of Place, </em>which places artists in month-long residencies in public schools. The purpose of the project is to show students how to explore a sense of place through art. Jeffrey was placed as artist-in-residence with Guste Elementary. The theme was Magic in our Neighborhood. Jeffrey photographed abandoned buildings and fences in Central City, made copies for the students, and taught them to make these images beautiful through art. See the entire project here: <a href=“http://www.ogdenmuseum.org/education/magic.pdf”>http://www.ogdenmuseum.org/education/magic.pdf</a>. He went on to participate in four sessions of Artists and Sense of Place, as well as other educational programs at the Ogden.</div><br /><a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd53KYwxZyI/AAAAAAAAAKA/BqLP69-HNps/s1600-h/DSCN1282.JPG”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322822829927917346” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 239px” alt=”“ src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd53KYwxZyI/AAAAAAAAAKA/BqLP69-HNps/s320/DSCN1282.JPG” border=“0” /></a><br /><br /><div>When the Ogden Museum was preparing to open Goldring Hall to the public, Jeffrey was part of that crew. The very first nail that supported the first painting was hammered into the wall by Roger Ogden and Jeffrey Cook. Today, as we were hanging <em>Making of a Melody</em> on the fourth floor Goldring Hall, one of the many cardboard boxes opened to reveal an envelope no one had seen before. It contained ephemera from the Ogden’s Grand Opening celebration (where Jeffrey performed a dance choreographed specifically for the event) including a slice of the symbolic red ribbon. It was so like him to hide our own history in a work about his personal history and sense of place. Jeffrey Cook was a great friend to the Ogden Museum, and he will be missed by all. </div><div><br /><br /><br /><br />On Tuesday, April 14, 2009, a memorial service for Jeffrey will be held for the art community at Ashe’ Cultural Arts Center from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. On Wednesday, April 15, 2009, services will be held at Ashe’. A viewing will take place from 9 a.m. till 11 a.m. followed by a memorial service. </div></div></div></div><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3601211757000210971-8350416496022257557?l=omsablog.blogspot.com” /></div>

<a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd0sW08mJzI/AAAAAAAAAJY/C8f_JaslxgA/s1600-h/06040013.JPG”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322459105303340850” style=“WIDTH: 212px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px” alt=”“ src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd0sW08mJzI/AAAAAAAAAJY/C8f_JaslxgA/s320/06040013.JPG” border=“0” /></a><br /><div><br /><br /><div>Alabama-born New Orleans artist, Michael <span>Meads</span>, is featured in a new exhibition at New York’s <span>ClampArt</span>, aptly titled <em>Kids Behaving Badly, </em>where he shares the walls with Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and Mark Morrisroe, among others. Michael is a great supporter of the Ogden and our mission. Due to a recent donation of <span>Michael’s</span> paintings, drawings, and photographs, the Ogden now holds the complete <em><span>Eastaboga</span></em> series, as well as a sampling of every phase of his career from his very first snapshots to his large <span>detailed</span> drawings set in the French Quarter. </div><br /><div>Check out Rafael <span>Soldi’s</span> blog review of the <span>ClampArt</span> show at <a href=“http://rafaelsoldi.blogspot.com/2009/04/kids-behaving-badly-at-clampart.html”>http://rafaelsoldi.blogspot.com/2009/04/kids-behaving-badly-at-clampart.html</a>.</div><br /><div>Top photo of Michael <span>Meads</span> at Rue <span>de</span> la Course in New Orleans by David Houston.</div><br /><div>Below:<em> Nicky at Salt Creek, 1993</em> by Michael <span>Meads</span>.<a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd0sWvRXe0I/AAAAAAAAAJQ/Kb_wTj5R_GA/s1600-h/Michael.jpg”><img id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5322459103779846978” style=“WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 216px” alt=”“ src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E_DdpBVIO8E/Sd0sWvRXe0I/AAAAAAAAAJQ/Kb_wTj5R_GA/s320/Michael.jpg” border=“0” /></a></div></div><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3601211757000210971-4002611100845113308?l=omsablog.blogspot.com” /></div>

<a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhTWs_bxXI/AAAAAAAAAGc/LreSGSoKlNQ/s1600-h/Pavy—Velma-Web.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 320px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhTWs_bxXI/AAAAAAAAAGc/LreSGSoKlNQ/s320/Pavy—Velma-Web.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321094609237689714” border=“0” /></a>Southwest Louisiana, Cajun country, is noted for food and music, but its equally unique art scene has been somewhat overlooked. Happily, more Acadiana artists have turned up in local galleries of late, most recently at Arthur Roger where Debbie Fleming Caffery and Francis X. Pavy continue their visual explorations. Pavy’s canvases are infused with psychedelic Cajun symbolism and lots of local color. Inspired by an elderly neighbor, a cat lady with a racy past, VELMA AND THE DIAMOND RING features a dancer in an exotic pose in a liquor bottle in which smaller <a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhTmVvm9cI/AAAAAAAAAGk/-wzjdJ5h3qM/s1600-h/Pavy-Way_Past_3_Oclock.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 154px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhTmVvm9cI/AAAAAAAAAGk/-wzjdJ5h3qM/s200/Pavy-Way_Past_3_Oclock.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321094877875205570” border=“0” /></a>bottles, each containing a man’s profile, float in space. With its iconic mix of dice, guitars, fast cars, crosses and cats, VELMA is a kaleidoscopic evocation of a colorful life. ART OPENING is a mural-size triptych, impressive in its scale, but among the show’s gems are some wood block prints that highlight Pavy’s flair for Matisse-like compositions propelled by a kind of late night zydeco mysticism.<br /><br /><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhUsQckvKI/AAAAAAAAAG0/sp1EOKYWktc/s1600-h/Selma_3498_32.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 151px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhUsQckvKI/AAAAAAAAAG0/sp1EOKYWktc/s200/Selma_3498_32.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321096079044033698” border=“0” /></a>Debbie Fleming Caffery’s darkly luminous photos focus on residents of a small Mexican village where life revolves around a cathedral and various cantinas, one of which doubled as a brothel. Here Caffery provides a poetic look at those ladies that ply their <a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhU-B9bzpI/AAAAAAAAAG8/Ce9NzIgGLyU/s1600-h/ChurchYard+with+calla+lilies.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhU-B9bzpI/AAAAAAAAAG8/Ce9NzIgGLyU/s200/ChurchYard+with+calla+lilies.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321096384392973970” border=“0” /></a>ancient trade almost in the shadow of the church, interacting with the camera in coyly mysterious poses. Selma partially masks her face with her thick, dark hair, Z is made up like a 1930s Parisian coquette, and Ana bares her breasts while hiding her eyes behind strands of beads. <a href=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhVUdRjEcI/AAAAAAAAAHE/BBOadeXx6KY/s1600-h/Ana.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 200px;” src=“http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdhVUdRjEcI/AAAAAAAAAHE/BBOadeXx6KY/s200/Ana.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321096769682215362” border=“0” /></a>Not all are “putas.” Octolan is an old wise woman with wrinkles like tree bark, and then there is Octolan’s wily cat and even the glowing cathedral itself. In Caffery’s Mexico, all things seem to dream and glow with their own inner light. ~D. Eric Bookhardt<br /><span><br />Debbie Fleming Caffery: THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH<br />Francis X Pavy: RECENT PAINTINGS AND PRINTS<br />Through April 25th<br />Arthur Roger Gallery, 432 Julia St., 522-1999; www.arthurrogergallery.com</span><br /><span><span>Expanded from <a href=“http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/index”>Gambit</a> </span></span><br /><span>Email:</span><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-6297366691133872371?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

<a href=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdgO_31U2UI/AAAAAAAAAGM/d_CsAKgvDZ8/s1600-h/mami+wata.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 258px;” src=“http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v37ZQ-oOY_0/SdgO_31U2UI/AAAAAAAAAGM/d_CsAKgvDZ8/s400/mami+wata.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321019450220403010” border=“0” /></a>At once beautiful, protective, seductive, and dangerous, the water spirit Mami Wata (Mother Water, seen here in painting by Moyo Ogundipe) is celebrated throughout much of Africa and the African Atlantic. A rich array of arts surrounds her, as well as a host of other aquatic spirits—all honoring the essential, sacred nature of water. Mami Wata is often portrayed as a mermaid, a snake charmer, or a combination of both. She is widely believed to have “overseas” origins, and her depictions have been profoundly influenced by representations of ancient, indigenous African water spirits, European mermaids, Hindu gods and goddesses, and Christian and Muslim saints. She is not only sexy, jealous, and beguiling but also exists in the <i>plural</i>, as the <i>mami watas </i>and <i>papi watas</i> who comprise part of the vast and uncountable “school” of African water spirits. Check out the show at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art: <a href=“http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/mamiwata/intro.html”>http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/mamiwata/intro.html</a><div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-4328418479839607655?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>

<span>Jennifer Odem Encounters NOMA’s Permanent Collection: </span><br /><a href=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sdk28P81knI/AAAAAAAAAVY/bjtZ3lm7uRQ/s1600-h/Odem1.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 304px;” src=“http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sdk28P81knI/AAAAAAAAAVY/bjtZ3lm7uRQ/s400/Odem1.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321344843416703602” border=“0” /></a><br /><a href=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sdk3SqA6FaI/AAAAAAAAAVg/xI5KPLTXY20/s1600-h/Odem2.jpg”><img style=“margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 320px;” src=“http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_4zZfvwTP028/Sdk3SqA6FaI/AAAAAAAAAVg/xI5KPLTXY20/s320/Odem2.jpg” alt=”“ id=“BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321345228370220450” border=“0” /></a>In an exhibition designed to create a dialogue between Jennifer Odom’s sculptures and selections from the permanent collection, works by artists such as Yves Klein, upper left, were chosen based on their stylistic and formal resonances. A New Orleans native, Odem has created numerous site-specific installations locally and abroad. Combining rigid and delicate materials such as hydro-stone and with flocking fiber, her sculptures navigate between monumentality and playfulness. The structurally imposing “mound” sculptures entice with the notion of a hidden interior. Through May 24.<br /><br />Odem’s most recent outdoor installation, “Blue Fence,” is on view beginning May 9 in the Upper Ninth Ward at the intersection of Poland Avenue at North Miro.<div><img width=“1” height=“1” src=“https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/2692635212517024217-1565837811667963452?l=www.insidenola.org” /></div>